


Trying Not To Cry

by robindrake93



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [7]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Book 3: The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson), Gen, Murder-Suicide, One Shot, POV First Person, Trying not to cry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27189850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robindrake93/pseuds/robindrake93
Summary: Thalia and Luke have betrayed Percy, the gods are using him as a pawn. Percy wants his freedom and revenge, even if it costs him everything.
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1832509
Kudos: 75





	Trying Not To Cry

**Author's Note:**

> I've almost filled my bingo card! I only have...fourteen more prompts to go. Okay, so that's a few more than I thought I had. lol 
> 
> Don't reupload/repost my fics.

Thalia went straight for Luke. The power of her shield was so great that his dragon-women bodyguards fled in a panic, dropping the golden coffin and leaving him alone. 

But despite his sickly appearance, Luke was still quick with his sword. He snarled like a wild animal and counterattacked. When his sword, Backbiter, met Thalia’s shield, a ball of lightning erupted between them, frying the air with white tendrils of power. 

As for me, I did something incredibly stupid: I got between them. I fended off Luke’s blow then spun around to face Thalia. “He’s mine!” I snarled at her. So what if Luke had begged her to join him? This wasn’t Thalia’s fight; it was mine. 

I’d surprised both of them, which was the only reason I wasn’t skewered. 

“Get out of my way!” Thalia snarled back. She turned her spear on me. Her electric blue eyes were full of killing fury. 

Luke saved me, thrusting Backbiter between the spear and me just before she stabbed me. “Are you really going to kill a kid on your own side?” Luke taunted. 

He was one to talk. 

His taunt was intended for Thalia but it worked on me too. Between Luke’s hypocrisy and Thalia’s readiness to be rid of me if I stood between her and...whatever it was she wanted, I reached my breaking point. I couldn’t take this anymore. These were both people I had once looked up to but they were both rotten. My hurt turned into rage that boiled over. It almost consumed me, made my bones vibrate with its strength. Thalia wasn’t a hero. Neither was Luke. How could I have been so wrong about both of them? What else was I wrong about? What signs was I ignoring? 

Lightning flashed with every blow struck between them. The air crackled with it. My hair stood on end. The two demigods were bloodthirsty. Thalia didn’t care who got in her way of killing Luke. They were supposed to be friends. _Luke_ was supposed to be my friend. But they just wanted me and each other dead. 

I trembled, trying to control my anger before it consumed me entirely. 

Then Thalia cut Luke across the chest and blood splattered onto my face. The cut was deeper than it looked, pumping out hot, vital lifeblood. 

My control snapped as though she had cut it instead of Luke. I lunged back into the fight, going after Thalia. There was little rhyme or reason to my attacks; I just wanted to make her back off. 

Luke accepted my help readily. He struck while I had her distracted, circling around constantly to jab at her weak spots. Somehow he moved fast enough to do that and block Thalia’s blows before they could touch me.

I didn’t try to defend myself. All I could think of was driving Thalia back, forcing her to submit. How exactly I managed that mattered less and less as the fight went on. She had to stop attacking Luke so that I could kill him. He would live or die by my blade. 

Maybe we wouldn’t have stood a chance against her, but Thalia was out of shape after spending five years as a tree. Luke may have been weakened but he was clever. And I was acting on raw instinct, pure strength. She stood no chance.

I slashed and stabbed with Luke at my side. When I saw an opening to end the fight, I took it. I smashed the butt of Riptide’s hilt against Thalia’s head. 

There was a crunch. Thalia dropped like a sack of rocks. She did not rise. 

I turned to Luke. 

Now that Thalia was down, our brief alliance was over. Luke knew this. The truth showed in his startingly blue eyes. Oh, those eyes that I’d loved looking into when I was younger. The eyes that I had wanted on me always. Right up until he betrayed me. Luke looked even worse after our fight with Thalia. His face was unusually pale and his shirt was drenched with sweat and blood. Even though I’d never beaten Luke in a fight before, he watched me warily, a cornered animal. 

My eyes prickled with unshed tears as I gazed at him. Before they could fall or Luke could notice my weakness, I attacked. It was reckless but if everything went according to plan then it didn’t matter how reckless I was. 

Luke blocked my attacks but he was slowing. Too sick and losing too much blood. I had him on defense, backing up as each blow landed harder than the last. Every step that Luke took backward, I took one forward. His exhaustion was written in every line of his body. If he’d been more alert, Luke probably would have guessed what I was doing. 

Luke didn’t notice the cliff until he almost stepped off it. A glance behind him, then Luke’s wide eyes met mine. It was a 500 foot drop to the rocky ocean below and there were more rocks than ocean. “Percy -” 

I raised my sword. Luke wasn’t getting away from me. I wouldn’t fail. Suddenly my arms felt like lead. Riptide weighed a ton. 

And I remembered Ares’ warning, spoken on the beach in Los Angeles so long ago: _When you need it most, your sword will fail you._

I dropped Riptide. The sword was useless now. 

Luke breathed a preemptive sigh of relief.

As Luke and I stared at each other, I felt the ghost of a burn in my right palm where the pit scorpion had stung me. How could he betray me like that? I couldn’t decide if Luke’s betrayal hurt more or if the fact that he’d been right about everything hurt more. In the end, it all just gathered inside of me and spilled over my cheeks in the form of tears. 

If anything, Luke looked even more concerned than he had when I was holding Riptide to stab him off the edge of the cliff. 

I made a small, helpless gesture. “To heck with laurel wreaths, right?” My voice cracked but I knew he understood me.

Luke’s eyes widened as he processed what I meant. 

I lunged, crashed into him. 

Together we went over the edge of the cliff, falling head first 500 feet to the rocks below. We wouldn’t survive without divine intervention. 

Suddenly I felt pain in my side and blood flew from the wound. My very soul shivered, like something had touched it. Backbiter. I wrapped my fingers around the blade, ignored how both sides dug into my skin, and shoved it back at Luke. It cut him open too.

“What are you doing?!” Luke shouted over the rush of wind. He struggled to get away from me. 

If I was Fated to die by sixteen and Luke was vital to Kronos’ revival then this might as well happen now. Two birds with one stone. The gods would be pleased. 

I held tight to him. Our lifeblood was hot and sticky. It soaked into our clothes. Luke wasn’t going to get away from me again. “I felt it, Luke! The darkness, the monsters, the uselessness of it all!” My face was next to his but I shouted to be heard. 

Luke stilled. He looked into my eyes. His blue eyes were sad, scared, and so tired. “This won’t help!” 

“Neither will what you tried! Now it’s my turn.” I smiled mirthlessly. The wind whipped through my hair. I tried not to cry anymore. “Okay, ride’s over. Have a nice afterlife.” 

“You’re crazy!” Luke shouted but he held onto me. No one wanted to die alone and by now it was obvious that there would be no divine intervention. Not from the gods and not from Kronos. 

“Goodbye, Luke.” 

“Percy -” Luke clung to me. 

Hitting the wet rocks at the bottom of the cliff hurt. But only for a moment.

**Author's Note:**

> It was really hard finding good dialog for Percy to throw back at Luke...but I made do with what Rick gave us.


End file.
